That photo on the story page... Aaaack.

(Tried to link it, but your spamblocker is being overzealous again.)

I was really hoping the descriptions would be more... descriptive.

I guess every one graduates cum laude.

Some of my favorite lines from the story:

" . . . a journey in "personal self-discovery"

Yeah, right.

". . . wearing a power suit and good heels dissuades clients from thinking they can take advantage of her.

Actually, it's the guy hiding in the closet with the tire iron that keeps them from thinking they can take advantage of you.

On a serious note, i support legalized prostitution. In Amsterdam all sex workers are required to take classes to be able to legally work. I think it makes sense. If it's the way you want to make money why not be good at it and safe?

Dear Lord. Do not bring the Dutch into it.

There are two arguments against legalizing prostitution (neither of which I agree with, but bear with me):

1. It is an immoral and unethical thing to be doing, and undermines both the family and the community at large.
2. It causes ill effects in the community: drug abuse, crime, violence, and lower property values.

The first argument is both true and completely beside the point; prostitution isn't called "the oldest profession" for nothing. People ain't gonna stop doing the nasty no matter how illegal you make it. Making it illegal does drive it underground and cause undesirable side-effects (evil pimps, STDs, and making prostitution the profession of last resort for the lowest rung of society, male and female alike). And the second problem flows from the first: violence, drugs, and crime go hand-in-hand with prostitution because they are all related sequelae.

My main beef with prostitution is that it is a horrible and unhealthy lifestyle for the person practicing it. No matter how careful you are, no matter how conscientious, this lifestyle will almost inevitably lead to health problems and an early death. Even if you avoid the drug-abuse that seems pandemic among prostitutes, and even if you can avoid getting one or many STDs, and even if you avoid being seriously hurt or killed by an unbalanced john...the ultimate price is mental. You can't do this sort of thing day in and day out, day after day and year after year, without simply dying inside.

But still it should be an informed choice, and then only of an adult person. Legalizing the trade would at least impose some regulations and protections for the practicioners, and would take at least some of the danger out of it for both parties.

...and man, I am babbling way too much...

I should take this opportunity to announce that I am now accepting applications for the first class of See-Dubya's College of International Drug Trafficking. Basic courses include pharmacology, agriculture, smuggling, and offing narcs. Your customers will appreciate your newfound professionalism and you can always show your diploma to a Laotian general who is uncertain of your bona fides.

Marion Barry will head our government relations program, and Manuel Noriega will offer correspondence courses beamed in from the federal Supermax in Colorado. Rememdial lectures will be offererd from that Washington state high school that teaches kids how to make meth in Chem class. Along with adjunct prof (and CSIS graduate) Pat O'Brien, the Whore College of San Francisco will co-teach a course about the synergistic opportunities that exist between the hooker industry and the coke industry.

This is going to be great.

hey ace watch the anti-CUNY comments...

pat
therightwingconspiracy.org

I love this:

Other cities, including Tucson, Ariz., Portland, Ore., Montreal and Taipei, Taiwan, have similar events, said Leigh, a veteran activist who takes credit for coining the term "sex worker" as an anti-euphemism.

Hmm, "anti-euphemism," eh? You'd think we'd have a word for something like that...

Oh, wait, we do: "dysphemism." Tard.

Actually, that's unfair. "Dysphemism" isn't really that common a word, so I can't necessarily expect a journalist to know it.

However, I can expect a journalist to understand what a euphemism is: a polite or tasteful term for something impolite or distasteful. And actually, "sex worker" is exactly that, i.e., it's not a dysphemism, or even an "anti-euphemism," but an honest-to-God euphemism.

So, I was right the first time. Tard.

FWIW, Monty, I think you might be wrong about illegality not serving as a deterrent. Sure, prostitution happens despite the prohibition, just like some people are murderers and drug dealers despite those activities being illegal, too. But I would wager that there is some significant pool of people who would be prostitutes or patronize prostitutes if it were legal, but who don't do so when it's illegal.

In Germany, prostitution is not only legal but in some cases mandatory. If you're an unemployed German woman and you turn down a hooker job you can lose your unemployment benefits -- no kidding.

I guess every one graduates cum laude

My guess is that summa cum laude, but some don't.

J Mann

Very, very bad pun! So bad it's good!

Yes, Dave, you are kidding, whether you know it or not.

That story is full of more holes than a round of swiss.

Actually hob, that was up for a vote or some shit. They imposed the rule, not sure if it actually got shot down, but some chick sued b/c they were taking away her unemp bene's if she didn't start whoring. lol

If politics is legal, prostitution should be as well.

Wasn't it President Reagan who noted that the world's second-oldest profession bears a remarkable resemblance to its first?

megan, yeah but the difference between politicians and prostitutes is that prostitutes will stop fucking you after you're dead....

I always thought that the Whore College was Radcliffe. The MIT drinking song has a stanza that goes like this:

I'm a whore from Radcliffe and I'll f**k for fifty cents.
I'll lay my ass on the grass, my pants upon the fence.
But get off of me if, you son of a bitch if you are from MIT.

I guess the writer held resentment for some past event.

Hmm .. so barber colleges and massage schools are well known as the place to go for cheap haircuts and massages, because the students have to train on somebody.

There are even schools of dentistry that offer cleanings, fillings, and root canals at a significant discount over going to a professional clinic (though I'd be hesitant about trusting my teefus to a student ...).

So do you think this joint offers cut-rate pipe cleanings?

Alex, they probably give discounts for helping train the students. However, you'll have to do it in a glass room with the instructors and the rest of the students watching and critiquing the performance.

Good point, Monty.

Also, prostitutes only take your money for services rendered.

If no one has caught the allusion to Fort Apache, The Bronx yet, I lay claim. Pam Grier, too.

And better yet -- Ken fucking Wahl.

Coincidence? I don't think so.
MSM gets one right.

OT, but slightly pertaining to the subject:

Fresh dirt on the "Runaway Bride".

Seems that her prospective groom had a born again experience and bought into his Pastor's advice that he and Jennifer should be celibate for the year up until the Wedding as a way to prove their Christian Faith and "become renewed pure Virgins".

Yeah, the same Pastor that was the spokesman talking forgiveness and Jennifer needing help and love, not approbation from the community.

Meanwhile, we learn that the groom was quite sexually active before becoming deeply involved in the Baptist faith thanks to the Pastor. We find that Jennifer was also "quite outgoing" as in regularly picking up guys after running a marathon to share a shower and a tryst, dating a different man every week at her local gym, and after 9/11, becoming quite a firefighter groupie. And she had complained about the lack of sex was really irritaing her and "driving her crazy" to several girlfriends.

She also had gotten breast implants because her running had thinned her down all over and she wasn't getting the regular dates she once did, and the implants took care of that.

Then, not only did she say that she was kidnapped, but news reporters in Albuquerque say she also said she was repeatedly raped by the Hispanic kidnaper in Las Vegas and insisted on a rape exam.

I guess what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas unless it's transported vaginally out of Vegas and the woman insists it be checked out...(unknown if the test showed semen but if it did, we can be sure it wasn't the grooms or the non-existent kidnappers).

Andrea Peyer of the NY Post calls this a case of hot pants:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/s/nypost/20050506/cm_nypost/simpleliquidcureforherabstinenceofmalice/nc:742

"My own personal experience has been negative and positive, as with any job," said Kymberly Cutter, 36, a mother of two from Tucson who returned to prostitution two years ago to boost her income and regards it as part of a journey in "personal self-discovery." Her children, ages 7 and 9, know what she does for a living, she said.

Ladies and gents, I think we have a contender for Mother of the Year.

Poor f'n kids. They're gonna make some lucky shrink a boatload of money someday, though.

Whore College. I can see the T-shirts: "Screw U"

Wonder how well endowed they are.

i thought whore-college was Wellsley

The more often I read stories like this, the more I appreciate my home life. When you have steak at home, you don't have to sneak out for Krystal burgers.

Ace hasn't posted much since posting this.....

Who'll take odds on him catching a red-eye to San Fran to try out for the male cheerleading squad of this most respected institute of academia?

Yipe ... I hadn't looked at the picture accompanying the article before. Now I know what this is about.

You see, here in this fair city there are lots of women who used to, and for all I know still do, call themselves "sex-positive feminists," but who are anything but sexy.

They take great pride in talk and behavior designed to shock the normals -- or at least to let themselves believe they're shocking the normals, as if most normals cared a whole lot about what they're doing. In this way, they convince themselves that they are being brave, breaking down barriers, and embarking on a journey of self-discovery (like our Tucson mother) and self-empowerment. It's fundamentally just another way of rebelling against their parents, like joining a commune or running off with a rock musician. And for anyone past the age of, oh, 19 or so, there's something a little pathetic about that.

I'm not going to bag too much on the general lumpy and frumpy physical characteristics of most of these people, especially 'cause a few of them are not unattractive. But what's more important is the fact that these people are the most fantastic bores you can imagine. They love to hear themselves talk, and they're convinced that because they're talking about sex that somehow makes their analysis exciting instead of boring.

Carol Queen and Betty Dodson are two typical examples. I attended a film presentation and lecture by CQ a few years ago (girl I was dating wanted to see it): a series of film clips centered on masturbation. Who would have thought that anyone could make that topic, so near and dear to the hearts of everyone present, so utterly tedious? My date and I kept rolling our eyes at each other during the talks, wishing she would shut up and go back to the film clips. It was like listening to an NPR Weekend Edition piece on music, where you wish they would quit talking over the damn song and let you hear what it sounds like for yourself.